isiZulu Trivia

isiZulu can seem quite complex because the smallest changes in a word can transform the meaning a lot.

For example:

Asidli - We don't eat

Asidle - Let's eat

Siyadla - We are eating

Siyodla - We are on our way to eat

Sizodla - We will eat

Asizudla - We won't eat

Here is another example:

Lala - sleep

La - Here

Lalela - Listen

So if I want to translate: "Listen here! Sleep here!" (As in giving someone a command to listen up and then tell them where to sleep.)

I would say:

Lalela la! Lala la!

Does anyone have a similar experience with their target/home language?

Luke.Liebenberg wrote:

Does anyone have a similar experience with their target/home language?

I don't remember having experienced that but there's this question in my native language that may sound confusing if foreigners can hear it. The word baba in Tagalog means "down/under/low" in English. If asking a question, our sentences sometimes end with "ba" when asking for confirmation/ approval. 

Ex: " Ibibigay ko na ba?" "Shall I give it to him already? "

If a Filipino would want to enter an elevator, he might ask the person first before entering

 " Bababa ba?" ( Is this (elevator) going down?)

and the second person will confirm by saying "Bababa. " 

So all you can hear are Bababas. lol.